The basic typographic element is called a character, which is any
individual letter, numeral, or punctuation mark. The capital letters
are called caps, or uppercase (u.c.) characters. Small letters are called
lowercase (l.c.) characters. Numbers are called numerals or figures.

On Macintosh computers, special characters can be viewed for
any font with the Key Caps utility under the apple menu. Ligatures
are character pairs which have been re-designed as optional single
characters.

Character Components
Typographic characters have basic component parts. The easiest way
to differentiate characteristics of type designs is by comparing the
structure of these components. The following terms identify some
of the components referred to in the next chapter.

Contrast
The amount of variation in between thick and thin strokes.

Minimum contrast Extreme contrast
Counter
The empty space inside the body stroke.
Ascender
The lowercase character stroke which extends above the x-height.
Bar
The horizontal stroke on the characters ‘A’, ‘H’, ‘T’, ‘e’, ‘f ’, ‘t’.
Baseline
The imaginary horizontal line to which the body, or main
component, of characters are aligned.
Bowl
The curved stroke which surrounds a counter.
Bracket
A curved line connecting the serif to the stroke.

Descender.
The lowercase character stroke which extends below the baseline.
Loop
The bottom part of the lowercase roman ‘g’.
Sans serif
From the French, meaning “without serif ”. A typeface which has no
serifs.Sans serif typefaces are typically uniform in stroke width.
Serif
Tapered corners on the ends of the main stroke. Serifs originated
with the chiseled guides made by ancient stonecutters as they
lettered monuments. Some serif designs may also be traced back to
characteristics of hand calligraphy. Note that serif type is typically
thick and thin in stroke weight.

Examples of bracket serifs.

i) Bracketed serifs with cupped bases

ii) Brecketed serifs with flat bases

iii) Unbracketed serifs
Shoulder
The part of a curved stroke coming from the stem.
Terminal
The end of the stroke which does not terminate in a serif.
X-height
The height of the body, minus ascenders and descenders, which is
equal to the height of lowercase ‘x’.

Axly

Stem
A stroke which is vertical or diagonal.
Stress
The direction in which a curved stroke changes weight.
Oblique, or angled stress Semi-oblque stress

vertical stress

G

HISTORY OF
TYPE

a

16th century in Germany
Typography traces its origins to the first punches and dies used to
make seals and currency in ancient times. The typographical principle,
the creation of a complete text by reusing identical characters, was
first realized in the Phaistos Disc, an enigmatic Minoan print item
from Crete, Greece, which dates between 1850 and 1600 BC. It
has been proposed that Roman lead pipe inscriptions were created
by movable type printing, but German typographer Herbert Brekle
recently dismissed this view.
The essential criterion of type identity was met by medieval print
artifacts such as the Latin Pruefening Abbey inscription of 1119 that
was created by the same technique as the Phaistos disc. The silver
altarpiece of patriarch Pellegrinus II (1195â&#x2C6;&#x2019;1204) in the cathedral of
Cividale was printed with individual letter punches. The same printing
technique can apparently be found in 10th to 12th century Byzantine
reliquaries. Individual letter tiles where the words are formed by
assembling single letter tiles in the desired order were reasonably
widespread in medieval Northern Europe. Modern movable type,
along with the mechanical printing press, was invented in mid-15th
century Germany by the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg.
His type pieces from a lead-based alloy suited printing purposes so
well that the alloy is still used today. Gutenberg developed specialized
techniques for casting and combining cheap copies of letterpunches
in the vast quantities required to print multiple copies of texts. This
technical breakthrough was instrumental in starting the Printing
Revolution and printing the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first book (with movable type)
the Gutenberg Bible.
Typography with movable type is separately invented in 11thcentury China. Metal type was first invented in Korea during the
Goryeo Dynasty around 1230. Both hand printing systems, however,
were only sporadically used and discontinued after the introduction
of Western lead type and the printing press. In traditional typography,
text is composed to create a readable, coherent, and visually satisfying
whole that works invisibly, without the awareness of the reader.

&

READABILTY
LEGIBILITY

L

egibility is primarily the concern of
the typeface designer, to ensure that
each individual character or
glyph is
unambiguous and distinguishable from
all other characters in the font. Legibility is also in part
the concern of the typographer to select a typeface with
appropriate clarity of design for the intended use at the
intended size. An example of a well-known design, Brush
Script, contains a number of illegible letters since many
of the characters can be easily misread especially if seen
out of textual context.

Readability is primarily the concern of the typographer
or information designer. It is the intended result of the
complete process of presentation of textual material
in order to communicate meaning as unambiguously as
possible. A reader should be assisted in navigating around
the information with ease, by optimal inter-letter, inter-word and
particularly inter-line spacing, coupled with appropriate line length
and position on the page, careful editorial “chunking” and choice of
the text architecture of titles, folios, and reference links.
The two concepts are distinguished by Walter Tracy in Letters of
Credit: these ‘two aspects of a type’ are fundamental to its effectiveness.
Because the common meaning of “legible” is “readable” there are
those even some professionally involved in typography. They think
that the term “legibilty” is all that is needed in any discussion on
the effectiveness of types. But legibility and readability are separate,
though connected aspects of type, properly understood. The two
terms can help to desribe the character and function of type more
precisely than legibility alone. In typography we need to draw the
definition of legibility to mean the quality of being decipherable and
recognisable.

So that we can say for example, that the lowercase ‘h’ in a
particular old style italic is not legible in small sizes because its inturned leg makes it look like the letter b; or a figure 3 in a classified
advertisement is too similar to the 8. In display sizes, legibility ceases
to be a serious matter; a character that causes uncertainty at 8 point
size is plain enough at 24 point. Note that the above applies to people
with 20/20 vision at appropriate reading distance and under optimal
lighting. The analogy of an opticians chart, testing for visual acuity
and independent of meaning, is useful to indicate the scope of the
concept of legibility.
In typography if the columns of a newspaper or magazine or the
pages of a book can be read for many minutes at a time without strain
or difficulty, then we can say the type has good readability. The term
describes the quality of visual comfort an important requirement in
the comprehension of long stretches of text but, paradoxically, not
so important in such things as telephone directories or air-line timetables, where the reader is not reading continuously but searching
for a single item of information. The difference in the two aspects
of visual effectiveness is illustrated by the familiar argument on
the suitability of sans-serif types for text setting. The characters in
a particular sans-serif face may be perfectly legible in themselves,
but no one would think of setting a popular novel in it because its
readability is low. Legibility ‘refers to perception’ and readability
‘refers to comprehension’. Typographers aim to achieve excellence in
both. “The typeface chosen should be legible. That is, it should be
read without effort. Sometimes legibility is simply a matter of type
size. More often however, it is a matter of typeface design.

However, even a legible typeface can become unreadable through
poor setting and placement, just as a less legible typeface can be made
more readable through good design.
Studies of both legibility and readability have examined a wide
range of factors including type size and type design. For example,
comparing serif vs. sans-serif type, roman type vs. oblique type and
italic type, line length, line spacing, color contrast, the design of
right-hand edge (for example, justification, straight right hand edge)

Other topics such as justified vs unjustified type, use of hyphens,
and proper fonts for people with reading difficulties such as dyslexia,
have continued to be subjects of debate. Websites such as Hgrebdes,
Ban Comic sans, UK National Literacy Trust, and Mark Simsonson
Studio have raised debating opinions on the above subjects and
many more each presenting a thorough and well-organized position.
Legibility is usually measured through speed of reading, with
comprehension scores used to check for effectiveness (that is, not a
rushed or careless read). For example, Miles Tinker, who published

Much of the legibility research literature is somewhat atheoretical
various factors were tested individually or in combination (inevitably
so, as the different factors are interdependent), but many tests were
carried out in the absence of a model of reading or visual perception.
Typographers believe that the overall word shape (Bouma) is very
important in readability, and that the theory of parallel letterwise
recognition is either wrong, less important, or not the entire picture.
Studies distinguishing between Bouma recognition and parallel
letterwise recognition with regard to how people actually recognize

Text typeset using LaTeX digital typesetting software. Readability
can also be compromised by letter-spacing, word spacing, or leading
that is too tight or too loose. It can be improved when generous
vertical space separates lines of text, making it easier for the eye to
distinguish one line from the next, or previous line. Poorly designed
fonts and those that are too tightly or loosely fitted can also result
in poor legibility. Typography is an element of all printed material.
Periodical publications, especially newspapers and magazines, use
typographical elements to achieve an attractive, distinctive appearance,
to aid readers in navigating the publication.
By formulating a style guide, a periodical standardizes on a
relatively small collection of typefaces, each used for specific
elements within the publication, and makes consistent use of type
sizes, italic, boldface, large and small capital letters, colors, and other
typographic features. Some publications, such as The Guardian and
The Economist, go so far as to commission a type designer to create
bespoke (custom tailored) typefaces for their exclusive use.
Different periodical publications design their publications,
including their typography, to achieve a particular tone or style.
For example, USA Today uses a bold, colorful, and comparatively
modern style through their use of a variety of typefaces and colors;
type sizes vary widely, and the newspaperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name is placed on a
colored background. In contrast, The New York Times uses a more
traditional approach, with fewer colors, less typeface variation, and
more columns.
Especially on the front page of newspapers and on magazine
covers, headlines are often set in larger display typefaces to attract

vs. ranged left, and whether text is hyphenated. Legibility research
has been published since the late nineteenth century. Although there
are often commonalities and agreement on many topics, others
often create poignant areas of conflict and variation of opinion. For
example, no one has provided a conclusive answer as to which font,
serifed or sans serif, provides the most legibility according to Alex
Poole.

numerous studies from the 1930s to the 1960s, used a speed of
reading test that required participants to spot incongruous words
as an effectiveness filter. The Readability of Print Unit at the Royal
College of Art under Professor Herbert Spencer with Brian Coe
and Linda Reynolds did important work in this area and was one of
the centres that revealed the importance of the saccadic rhythm of
eye movement for readability in particular, the ability to take in (i.e.,
recognise the meaning of groups of) around three words at once and
the physiognomy of the eye, which means the eye tires if the line
required more than 3 or 4 of these saccadic jumps. More than this is
found to introduce strain and errors. These days, legibility research
tends to be limited to critical issues, or the testing of specific design
solutions (for example, when new typefaces are developed). Examples
of critical issues include typefaces (also called fonts) for people with
visual impairment, and typefaces for highway signs, or for other
conditions where legibility may make a key difference.

words when they read, have favored parallel letterwise recognition,
which is widely accepted by cognitive psychologists.
Some commonly agreed findings of legibility research include:
Text set in lower case is more legible than text set in all upper case
(capitals), presumably because lower case letter structures and word
shapes are more distinctive. Extenders (ascenders, descenders and
other projecting parts increase salience (prominence). Regular upright
type (roman type) is found to be more legible than italic type. Contrast,
without dazzling brightness, has also been found to be important,
with black on yelow/cream being mos effective. Positive images (e.g
white on black). However even this commonly accepted practise has
some exceptions, for example in some cases of disability. The upper
portions of letters play a stronger part than the lower portions in the
recognition process.

attention, and are placed near the masthead. Experimental typography
Experimental typography is defined as the unconventional and more
artistic approach to setting type. Francis Picabia was a Dada pioneer
in the early 20th Century. David Carson is often associated with this
movement, particularly for his work in Ray Gun magazine in the
1990s. His work caused an uproar in the design community due to
his abandonment of standards in typesetting practices, layout, and
design. Experimental typography places emphasis on communicating
emotion, rather than on legibility.

TYPE

Display typography encompasses:

D

ISPLAY

r

D

isplay typography is a potent element in graphic
design, where there is less ocncern for readability and
more potential for using type in an artistic manner.
Type is combined with negative relationships and
dialog between words and images. Colour and size of type elements
are much more prevalent than in text typography. MOst display
typography exploits type at larger sizes, where the details of letter
design are magnified. Colour is used for its emotional effect in
conveying the tone and nature of subject matter.
•

Grafitti.

•

Book Covers.

•

Packaging and labeling.

•

Typographic logos and wordmarks.

•

Kinetic typography in motion pictures.

•

Inscriptional and architectural lettering.

•

Signage such as signage and advertising.

•
•

Business communications and advertising.
Poster design and other large scale lettering.
Advertising

Typography has long been a vital part of promotional material
and advertising. Designers often use typography to set a theme and
moood in an advertisement: for example using blod, large text to
convey a particular message to the reader. Type is often used to draw
attention to a particular advertisement, combined with effcient use
of colour, shapes and images. Today, typography in advertising often
reflects a company’s brand. Fonts used in advertisements convey
different messages to the reader, classical fonts are for a strong
personality, while more modern fonts are for a cleaner, neutral look.
Bold fonts are used for making statements and attracting attention.
Display type also apply in advertising design. Display is a particular
use of type. In the days of letterpress and phototypesetting, many
of the most commonly used typefaces were available in a “display
face” variation. Display faces were created for best appearance at
large “display” sizes (typically 36 points or larger) as might be used
for a major headline in a newspaper or on the cover of a book. The
main distinction of a display face was the lack of “ink traps”, small
indentations at the junctions of letter strokes. In smaller point sizes,
these ink traps were intended to fill up when the letterpress was overinked, providing some latitude in press operation while maintaining
the intended appearance of the type design. (..)

HISTORY OF HELVETICA

H

F a m o u s t yp o
g r a p he rs

elvetica was developed in 1957 by Max Miedinger with
Eduard Hoffmann at the Haas’sche Schriftgiesserei
(Haas Type Foundry) of Münchenstein, Switzerland.
Haas set out to design a new sans-serif typeface that
could compete with the successful Akzidenz-Grotesk in the Swiss
market. Originally called Neue Haas Grotesk, its design was based
on Schelter-Grotesk and Haas’ Normal Grotesk. The aim of the
new design was to create a neutral typeface that had great clarity, no
intrinsic meaning in its form, and could be used on a wide variety of
signage.

(Neue) Helvetica Thai (2012)

When Linotype adopted Neue Haas Grotesk (which was never
planned to be a full range of mechanical and hot-metal typefaces) its
design was reworked. After the success of Univers, Arthur Ritzel of
Stempel redesigned Neue Haas Grotesk into a larger family.

Helvetica Light

In 1960, the typeface’s name was changed by Haas’ German parent
company Stempel to Helvetica in order to make it more marketable
internationally.

Helvetica Compressed

Defining Characteristics
tall x-height, which makes it easier to read in smaller sizes
two-storied a (with curves of bowl and of stem)
narrow t and f
square-looking s
bracketed top serif of 1
rounded off square tail of R
Language variants
The Cyrillic version was designed in-house in the 1970s at D Stempel
AG, then critiqued and redesigned in 1992 under the advice of Jovica
Veljovic. Matthew Carter designed the Helvetica Greek.

Thai font designer Anuthin Wongsunkakon of Cadson Demak Co.
created Thai versions of Helvetica and Neue Helvetica fonts. The
design uses loopless terminals in Thai glyphs, which had also been
used by Wongsunkakon’s previous design, Manop Mai (New Manop).
Initial release included 6 fonts in OpenType Com format for
each family in 3 weights (light, regular, bold) and 1 width, with
complementary italics. OpenType features include fractions, glyph
composition/decomposition.

Helvetica Light was designed by Stempel’s artistic director Erich
Schultz-Anker, in conjunction with Arthur Ritzel.

Designed by Matthew Carter, this is a narrow variant that is
tighter than Helvetica Condensed. It shares some design elements
with Helvetica Inserat, but uses a curved tail in Q, downward
pointing branch in r, and tilde bottom £. The family consists of
Helvetica Compressed, Helvetica Extra Compressed, Helvetica Ultra
Compressed fonts.

Helvetica Textbook

Neue Helvetica W1G (2009)

Helvetica Textbook is an alternate design of the typeface. Some
characters such as 1, 4, 6, 9, I, J, a, f, j, q, t, u, μ, and ¶ are drawn
differently from the original version.

It is a version with Latin Extended, Greek, Cyrillic scripts support.
Only OpenType CFF font format was released.
The family includes the fonts from the older Neue Helvetica
counterparts, except Neue Helvetica 75 Bold Outline. Additional
OpenType features include subscript/superscript.

Helvetica Inserat (1957)
Helvetica Inserat is a version designed in 1957 primarily for use
in the advertising industry. With metric similar to Helvetica Black
Condensed, the design gives the glyphs a more squared appearance,
similar to Impact and Haettenschweiler. Strike with strokes in $, ¢ are
replaced by non-strikethrough version. 4 is opened at top.
Helvetica Rounded (1978)
Helvetica Rounded is a version containing rounded stroke
terminators. Only bold, bold oblique, black, black oblique, bold
condensed, bold outline fonts were made, with outline font not issued
in digital form by Linotype.
Helvetica Narrow
Helvetica Narrow is a version where its width is between Helvetica
Compressed and Helvetica Condensed. However, the width is scaled
in a way that is optically consistent with the widest width fonts. The
font was developed when printer ROM space was very scarce, so it was
created by mathematically squashing Helvetica to 82% of the original
width, resulting in distorted letterforms and thin vertical strokes
next to thicker horizontals. OpenType version was not produced by
Adobe under the distortion reasoning, and recommended Helvetica
Condensed instead. However, in Linotype’s OpenType version of
Helvetica Narrow, the distortions found in the Adobe fonts are nonexistent.
Neue Helvetica (1983)
Neue Helvetica is a reworking of the typeface with a more
structurally unified set of heights and widths. It was developed
at D. Stempel AG, a Linotype subsidiary. The studio manager was
Wolfgang Schimpf, and his assistant was Reinhard Haus; the manager
of the project was René Kerfante. Erik Spiekermann was the design
consultant and designed the literature for the launch in 1983. Other
changes include improved legibility, heavier punctuation marks, and
increased spacing in the numbers. Neue Helvetica uses a numerical
design classification scheme, like Univers. The font family is made
up of 51 fonts including 9 weights in 3 widths (8, 9, 8 in normal,
condensed, extended widths respectively), and an outline font based
on Helvetica 75 Bold Outline (no Textbook or rounded fonts are
available). Linotype distributes Neue Helvetica on CD. Neue Helvetica
also comes in variants for Central European and Cyrillic text.

Helvetica World

Usage

Also called Helvetica Linotype, Helvetica World supports Arabic,
Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, and Vietnamese scripts. The family consists
of four fonts in 2 weights and 1 width, with complementary italics.
The Arabic glyphs were based on a redesigned Yakout font family
from Linotype. Latin kerning and spacing were redesigned to have
consistent spacing. John Hudson of Tiro Typeworks designed the
Hebrew glyphs for the font family, as well as the Cyrillic, and Greek
letters.

Helvetica is among the most widely used sans-serif typefaces.
Versions exist for the following alphabets/scripts: Latin, Cyrillic,
Hebrew, Greek, Japanese, Korean, Hindi, Urdu, Khmer and
Vietnamese. Chinese faces have been developed to complement
Helvetica. Helvetica is a popular choice for commercial wordmarks,
including those for Societe Generale, 3M, American Apparel, BMW,
ECM, Jackass, Jeep, J. C. Penney, Kawasaki, Lufthansa, McDonald’s,
Mitsubishi Electric, Motorola, Panasonic, Philippine Airlines, Target,
University of Illinois at Chicago, and Verizon Wireless. Apple Inc. has
used Helvetica widely in iOS (previously iPhone OS), and the iPod.
The iPhone 4 uses Neue Helvetica.

Similar typefaces
Generic versions of Helvetica have been made by various
vendors, including Monotype Imaging (CG Triumvirate), ParaType
(Pragmatica), Bitstream (Swiss 721), URW++ (Nimbus Sans), and
Ray Larabie (Coolvetica).
Monotype’s Arial, designed in 1982, while different from
Helvetica in some few details, has identical character widths, and is
indistinguishable by most non-specialists. The characters C, G, R, Q,
1, a, e, r, and t are useful for quickly distinguishing Arial and Helvetica.
Differences include:
Helvetica’s strokes are typically cut either horizontally or vertically.
This is especially visible in the t, r, f, and C. Arial employs slanted
stroke cuts.
Helvetica’s G has a well-defined spur; Arial does not. The tail of
Helvetica’s R is more upright whereas Arial’s R is more diagonal.
The number 1 of Helvetica has a square angle underneath the
upper spur, Arial has a curve.
The Q glyph in Helvetica has a straight cross mark, while the cross
mark in Arial has a slight snake-like curve.
“Helv”, later known as “MS Sans Serif ”, is a sans-serif typeface
that shares many key characteristics to Helvetica, including the
horizontally and vertically aligned stroke terminators and more
uniformed stroke widths within a glyph.

Helvetica is widely used by the U.S. government; for example,
federal income tax forms are set in Helvetica, and NASA uses the
type on the Space Shuttle orbiter. Helvetica is also used in the United
States television rating system. The Canadian government also uses
Helvetica as its identifying typeface, with three variants being used in
its corporate identity program, and encourages its use in all federal
agencies and websites.
New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)
uses Helvetica for many of its subway signs, but Helvetica was not
adopted as the official font for signage until 1989. The standard font
from 1970 until 1989 was Standard Medium, an Akzidenz Grotesk-like
sans-serif, as defined by Unimark’s New York City Transit Authority
Graphic Standards Manual. The MTA system is still rife with a
proliferation of Helvetica-like fonts, including Arial, in addition to
some old remaining signs in Medium Standard, and a few anomalous
signs in Helvetica Narrow.

Washington’s WMATA uses Helvetica on its signage for Metrorail.
The Chicago Transit Authority uses Helvetica on its signage for the
Chicago ‘L’. The former state owned operator of the British railway
system developed its own Helvetica-based Rail Alphabet font, which
was also adopted by the National Health Service and the British
Airports Authority. Additionally, it was also adopted by Danish
railway company DSB for a time period.
CNN used Helvetica as its main font for much of its history;
they recently switched to Univers. The NBA on TNT used Helvetica
from 2002–05; NBA on ABC used the font during the 2003-04 NBA
season. CBS Sports programs have been using Helvetica since 2006,
particularly during its broadcasts of the NCAA Men’s Division I
Basketball Tournament and the NFL. The U.S. adaptation of The
Office uses Helvetica in its graphics.
The computer interface design in the Star Trek: The Next
Generation based series and movies called LCARS, created by Michael
Okuda, uses Helvetica Ultra Compressed. The PBS 1970 - 1971 Logo
uses Helvetica Bold.
Starting with model year 1963 or ‘64 Studebaker began using
Helvetica script on their dealership signs, commercials and the bases
of their hood ornaments.

Max
Miedinger

NeueHelvetica

Helvetica is classidied as a Neo-Grotesque
type. It was designed by Max Miedinger
together with Eduard Hoffman in 1957at the
Haas type foundry in Switzerland. Helvetica is
based on the type Akzidenz Grotesk. The
name Helvetica comes from the latin name for
Switzerland which is Confoederatio Helvetica.
Helvetica has become a very popular type
worldwide, and is used on everything from
logos to signage.